Asset managers could pose as big a risk to the world’s financial system as banks, according to the top Bank of England official responsible for stability.

Andrew Haldane, director of financial stability, warned the $87 trillion (£52 trillion) fund management industry was becoming more “run-prone” and said he was concerned problems at one or several big managers could cause wider problems for markets.

“Future illiquidity pressures in financial markets, generated by asset management distress or wholesale portfolio reallocation, may be larger and more potent. In other words, Black Swan risk in asset management may be real and rising,” said Mr Haldane in a speech at the London Business School.

Mr Haldane pointed to the risk that a fund management firm could be forced into a “fire-sale” of its assets if investors were to lose confidence in it, similar to the runs seen on banks when savers become worried about the safety of their money.

“Falling asset prices may be the prompt for withdrawal or sales. In some respects, this would mimic a banking “run”, albeit operating through non-conventional channels. This could itself induce a further round of asset sales in an amplifying loop,” he said.

The world’s 10 big biggest fund managers control just under 30pc of total assets, a greater concentration even than among the largest banks, which together hold about 20pc of global assets.

Blackrock, the biggest manager, is a third larger than the world largest bank, China’s ICBC, and Mr Haldane said the rapid growth of the asset management industry raised the spectre of the “too big to fail” problem identified with major banks in the financial crisis.

US assets under management have risen by a factor of five since 1946 and now represent 240pc of American GDP, while the UK has recorded a similar increase in just over three decades.

As yet, problems at fund management companies have tended to be localised and have rarely been of wider concern, but Mr Haldane said the changes seen in the industry meant that little comfort could be taken from this.

This could have major implications for the City, as along with being one of the world’s largest banking centres, London has in the past decade has become a major home for international asset management companies. Forty percent of European assets are now managed out of Britain, according to The City UK, a lobby group for the financial services industry.

The Financial Stability Board, the representative body for the world’s main central banks and regulators, is consulting on widening the list of so-called “globally systemically important financial institutions” to potentially include big fund managers and insurance companies.

Mr Haldane said the conclusions of this work would be “interesting”, adding that the analysis of the risks posed by the asset managers was still in its infancy.

“The risks and opportunities asset management poses, while different, could be every bit as important. To avoid the pitfalls of the banks, this greenfield sit will need to be cultivated carefully,” he said.